METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOCATING FPGA RESOURCES

• US 20150169376A1
• Filed: 06/26/2013
• Published: 06/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Fei, Wang, Kun, Zhang, Yu, Zou, Jia, Chang, Xiaotao
• Granted Patent: US 9,389,915 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5011 Pool
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/48 Program initiating; Program switching, e.g. by interrupt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5005 to service a request
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5022 Mechanisms to release resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load

Abstract

The present invention relates to technical solutions for allocating FPGA resources in a resource pool. In an embodiment, the technical solution includes: receiving resource request for FPGA resources in the resource pool from a client; performing resource allocation operation based on resource pool state information record in response to the resource request, said resource pool state information record including utilization state information of the FPGA in said resource pool; and updating said resource pool state information record based on the result of said resource allocation operation. FPGA resource allocation can be implemented with the adoption of the technical solution of the application.

Claims

1. A method for allocating FPGA resources in a resource pool, comprising:

receiving resource requests for FPGA resources in the resource pool from a client;

performing resource allocation operation based on resource pool state information record in response to the resource request, said resource pool state information record including utilization state information of the FPGA in said resource pool; and

updating said resource pool state information record based on the result of said resource allocation operation.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein,

said resource request includes the type and quantity of the requested programmable resources;

in said resource allocation operation, going through said resource pool state information record and determining the FPGA resources that satisfy the requested type and bandwidth of programmable resources based on said FPGA utilization state information and allocating them to said client.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, said resource pool state information record further includes the functional unit information record of said FPGA, said functional unit information record including at least functional unit information created in said FPGA.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein,

said resource request includes requested type and bandwidth of the functional unit;

in said resource allocation operation, determining whether a functional unit meeting requested type and bandwidth of the functional unit has been found based on said resource pool state information record and said functional unit information record;

allocating a found functional unit to said client in response to finding a functional unit meeting the requested type and bandwidth of the functional unit.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprises,

creating and allocating new functional units to said client in response to not finding a functional unit meeting the requesting type and bandwidth of the functional unit.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein, said functional unit information record further includes an application information record of said functional unit, said application information record including at least an identification code of the requestor requesting said functional unit and a bandwidth of said functional unit occupied by said requestor, in which, said identification code of said requestor is the identification information generated in response to the opening of an allocated functional unit by said requestor.

7. The method according to claim 3, further comprises:

maintaining a First In First Out (FIFO) task queue, the description information of a task in said task queue including at least one data credit value reset based on a predetermined period, said data credit value being determined based on the bandwidth required by said task;

when executing a task at the head of said task queue,

in response to said data credit value being greater than zero, executing said task at the head and adjusting the said data credit value according to a processed amount of data;

in response to said data credit value being equal to zero, not executing the task at the head.

8. A system for allocating FPGA resources in a resource pool, comprising:

a reception means, configured to receive resource requests for FPGA resources in the resource pool from a client;

a resource allocation operation means, configured to perform resource allocation operation based on resource pool state information record in response to the resource request, said resource pool state information record including utilization state information of the FPGA in said resource pool; and

an updating means, configured to update said resource pool state information record based on the result of said resource allocation operation.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein,

said resource request includes the type and quantity of the requested programmable resources;

said resource allocation operation means is further configured to go through said resource pool state information record and determine the FPGA resources that satisfy the requested type and bandwidth of programmable resources based on said FPGA utilization state information and allocate to said client.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein, said resource pool state information record further includes the functional unit information record of said FPGA, said functional unit information record including at least functional unit information having been created in said FPGA.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein,

said resource request includes requested type and bandwidth of the functional unit;

said resource allocation operation means is further configured to determine whether a functional unit satisfying requested type and bandwidth of the functional unit has been found based on said resource pool state information record and said functional unit information record;

said resource allocation operating means is further configured to allocate a found functional unit to said client in respond to finding a functional unit satisfying the requested type and bandwidth of the functional unit.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein,

said resource allocation operation means is further configured to create and allocate new functional units to said client in response to not finding a functional unit satisfying the requesting type and bandwidth of the functional unit.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein, said functional unit information record further includes an application information record of said functional unit, said application information record including at least an identification code of the requestor requesting said functional unit and a bandwidth of said functional unit occupied by said requestor, in which, said identification code of said requestor is the identification information generated in response to the opening of an allocated functional unit by said requestor.

14. The system according to claim 11, further comprises:

a means configured to maintain a First In First Out (FIFO) task queue, with description information of a task in said task queue including at least one data credit value reset according to a predetermined period, said data credit value being determined according to the bandwidth required by said task;

a means configured to perform the following operations when executing a task at the head of said task queue;

in response to said data credit value being greater than zero, executing said task at the head and adjusting the said data credit value according to a processed amount of data;

in response to said data credit value being equal to zero, not executing the task at the head.

15. A computer program product comprising tangible computer readable media, the computer readable media having program code embodied thereon for configuring a computer system to perform a method to allocate FPGA resources in a resource pool, said method comprising:

receiving resource requests for FPGA resources in the resource pool from a client;

performing resource allocation operation based on resource pool state information record in response to the resource request, said resource pool state information record including utilization state information of the FPGA in said resource pool; and

updating said resource pool state information record based on the result of said resource allocation operation.

16. The computer program product according to claim 15, wherein,

said resource request includes the type and quantity of the requested programmable resources, said method further comprising:

in said resource allocation operation, going through said resource pool state information record and determining the FPGA resources that satisfy the requested type and bandwidth of programmable resources based on said FPGA utilization state information and allocating them to said client.

17. The computer program product according to claim 15, wherein, said resource pool state information record further includes the functional unit information record of said FPGA, said functional unit information record including at least functional unit information created in said FPGA.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein,

said resource request includes requested type and bandwidth of the functional unit, said method further comprising:

in said resource allocation operation, determining whether a functional unit meeting requested type and bandwidth of the functional unit has been found based on said resource pool state information record and said functional unit information record;

allocating a found functional unit to said client in response to finding a functional unit meeting the requested type and bandwidth of the functional unit.

19. The computer program product according to claim 18, further comprises,

creating and allocating new functional units to said client in response to not finding a functional unit meeting the requesting type and bandwidth of the functional unit.

20. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein, said functional unit information record further includes an application information record of said functional unit, said application information record including at least an identification code of the requestor requesting said functional unit and a bandwidth of said functional unit occupied by said requestor, in which, said identification code of said requestor is the identification information generated in response to the opening of an allocated functional unit by said requestor.